Symptoms
Outlook clients cannot connect to the Softalk Share Server data store. The server is running on Windows XP and service pack 2 may have recently been installed.
More Info
What ports does Softalk Share Server use?
Softalk Share Server is a Client-Server application where the server provides a data store for Outlook clients. The Outlook clients connect to the data store over a network. The clients initiate most of the connections. However, the server initiates connections to update clients when data has been changed by another client.
Softalk Share Server uses the following ports:
TCP 8110, Softalk Share Server protocol, user configurable in the Administrator.
TCP 8111, Softalk Share Server SSL protocol, user configurable in the Administrator.
TCP 8109, Free/Busy protocol.
UDP 8112, Broadcast port between the server and the Administrator.
UDP 8114, Broadcast port between the server and the Administrator.
UDP 8117, Broadcast port for real time updates from the server to the clients.
Summary
Microsoft has released SP2 (Service Pack 2) for Windows XP. This contains several updates to Windows XP including new functionality, such as the Windows firewall. The default settings of the Windows Firewall contained in this update may need to be changed to ensure that your Softalk Share Server continues to operate correctly.
The main feature of Windows XP SP2 that affects Softalk Share Server is that the Windows Firewall is switched on by default. This means that it may block connections to network resources such as the Softalk Share Server data store.
Detail
If you run the Softalk Share Server MAPI Provider on a Windows XP machine you need to make sure that the firewall is not blocking access from the client to the Server. The main setup for Softalk Share Server offers to setup the windows firewall for you. If it is not set up and you run the Softalk Share Server MAPI provider as an application then when you first start the server program the Windows firewall should ask if you want to allow Softalk Share Server to access the network. You should allow this.
If you run the Softalk Share Server MAPI provider as a Windows Service you will not be prompted to allow Softalk Share Server. You must configure your firewall to allow this:
Go to your Control Panel, Windows Firewall, Exceptions, Add Program, Browse to the Softalk Share Server folder and select SSSServer.exe and select Open and Click OK. Softalk Share Server should now appear in your allowed applications list.
You can also enter the following into a command prompt. You may need to customise this to match your system.
netsh firewall add allowedprogram program=”c:Program FilesSoftalk Share ServerSSSServer.exe” name=”Softalk Share Server”
For real time update notifications from the server to reach the clients, the Windows firewall on the client must be configured to allow UDP communications on port 8117. (Note that in versions of Softalk Share Server prior to build 402, port 8115 was used for update notifications).